(Dickens, Charles) Overs, John
EVENINGS OF A WORKING MAN 1844. London: T. C. Newby, 1844. Bound by Morrell in full polished calf with leather spine labels. First Edition. Overs was a carpenter who "had shown some literary ability" [Eckel], but was now fatally ill with tuberculosis; Dickens assisted him in getting his writings published, as a financial aid for Overs's soon-to-be widow and children. (The book is dedicated to the doctor who was caring for Overs.) The book itself undoubtedly was partly designed by Dickens, as both the red-and-blue-ink title page and the original embossed brown cloth (not present) bear a definite resemblance to his own A CHRISTMAS CAROL, then just published. Dicken's nine-page Preface exhorts readers (a bit patronizingly) to accept "working men" into the class of literary aesthetes. Three years later the publisher T. C. Newby would publish WUTHERING HEIGHTS.~This copy is bound by Morrell into full polished calf, with the half-title but without the leaf of ads at the rear. Condition is near-fine, slightly rubbed. Podeschi B151; Eckel pp 146-147.
[Bookseller: Sumner & Stillman]